Suspect in uncle's killing now part of sex abuse case

May 16, 2010

A man who led Will County authorities on a five-day manhunt last fall after allegedly killing his uncle in New Lenox Township is being investigated on suspicion of aggravated sexual abuse and child pornography, court records show.

Jason Gonzalez, 24, is being held in lieu of $5 million bail in the Sept. 17 shooting death of his uncle Lance Goebel. Goebel's body was found by his wife, who also noticed that money was missing from their home in the 22700 block of South Cedar Road, according to court records.

No motive has been given for the killing.

Not long before Goebel's death, he and Gonzalez argued over money. Gonzalez then sent a relative in Washington an e-mail stating that he would "get even" with his uncle.

In January, Gonzalez's mother, Kimberly, contacted police to report she had found her son's Palm Zire smartphone, two Zip drives and three flash memory cards in a cabinet with her son's belongings, according to court records.

She turned the phone on and found a video of a preteen female relative sitting on Gonzalez's lap. In the video, her son pans the camera down the girl's body and focuses on her groin, records say.

After seeing that, his mother immediately turned off the recording. Police confiscated the electronics equipment last month.

Gonzalez has told authorities that he was in his uncle's home with two other men. He said he gave his gun to a man named "Matthew" and told him there was money in the home, according to court records.

Investigators tracked down Gonzalez after he used his cell phone five days after his uncle's death. They found him sleeping in his mother's 1997 Saturn -- a car he had asked to borrow the day of the killing -- in an industrial area near Larkin Road in Joliet.

Inside the car, police found a GPS receiver that Gonzalez had bought hours before his uncle's death, records show. Authorities hope to use it to track his whereabouts around the time of the killing.

Gonzalez's defense attorney did not return calls, and authorities declined to comment.